Will Andy Murray get Venus support?

Not the flowing black dress she wore in her opening French Open victory at Roland Garros yesterday, but the strap she wears around her wrists to guard against injury.

Take the strain: Venus Williams serves to Alize Cornet during their French Open clash

Williams, who was given a good game by French teenager Alize Cornet before winning 6-4, 6-4, knows how troublesome the joint and tendons can be.

She suffered tendinitis in both wrists in 1999 and they still require protecting more than seven years later.

Murray, who is undergoing treatment for the wrist injury he suffered in Hamburg two weeks ago, may require extra support when he returns.

For Williams, the five-times women's Grand Slam winner, the bandages are a regular fixture.

"Sometimes it varies what is under them, but I'll probably always have them," she said after squeezing in her match during a second day of prolonged showers.

"I don't wear them in practice any more but I used to. I always tape them before a match just in case something happens."

Encouragingly for Murray, Venus put the injury behind her quickly.

Despite missing the first four months of the 2000 season, she won both Wimbledon and the U. S Open that year.

But wrist problems have bothered her intermittently since - a problem she shares with numerous players - and the situation is not aided by heavier balls, slower surfaces and a tendency to cock the wrist further back before hitting the forehand.

Williams has been concerned enough about it to be merely happy she is able to compete.

"The most important thing is that I'm on tour and as long as I'm on tour I feel that good things can happen to me," she said.

Like her sister, Serena, the previous day, Williams started unconvincingly against 17-year-old Cornet, who could have served for the first set had she converted a break-point at 4-4.

After that there was little chance Venus would perish and further cut American interest, which sees just nine players in both the men's and women's singles draws, most of them making up the numbers.

In that group could be included 29-year-old Michael Russell, who was losing 6-4, 4-1 to Roger Federer when a final deluge drove them off the court.

Held up: Roger Federer

Such is the backlog that Tim Henman may not find himself on court until tomorrow for his match against 18-year-old Latvian Ernests Gulbis, and the British No 2 was forced to trawl around Paris to find an indoor clay court for practice.

It was another day when Wimbledon's decision to build a roof in 2009 looked wise, with the French Federation having abandoned their plans for a roof after losing out on the 2012 Olympics.

The downpours caused different problems for fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, who arrived just five minutes before his match against Italian Stefano Galvani after his car was stuck in rain-induced traffic jams.

It did not unduly affect the Russian, who won 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.